Summer trip out west and campground availability

mileshuff wrote:
For Grand Canyon area we stay in Williams at the Grand Canyon Railway RV park. It is managed by and next door to the railway that runs to the canyon. We've rode the train but prefer to drive for the day to the canyon. That allows more time at the rim. Should not have trouble getting last minute reservations except over holidays such as July 4th or Labor Day.

Williams is a fun route 66 town thats still reminiscent of the 50's. Lots to do around the area, lakes, Bearazona, deer petting zoo, zipline etc.

We stayed here too. Had no trouble getting last minute reservations in June. We really liked this RV resort and the kids loved the train ride. The only down-side is that you only get about 4-5 hours actually AT the Grand Canyon. For us, that was plenty--I had a 12yo mentally handicapped child who was faaaarrr too interested in what was going on over the edge! Yikes!

Back in 2007 we took our kids on a 6,000 mile cross-country trip, largely out west. Most of the time we did not have reservations ahead. Around 3pm I would start looking up campgrounds that were about 60 miles away and called up the one that I thought would fill our needs.A few times we just showed up and got a spot for the night. Only one time did we drive up, turn around, and leave. We did not boondock because we didn't feel it was safe with the kids (esp. the 12yo.)

The only reservation that I made ahead of time was for Yellowstone. We were meeting family there and we all wanted to make sure we could be together. So that reservation was made about 2 months ahead. But otherwise we just flew by the seat of our pants and had no troubles at all finding a decent place to stop for the night, or several nights for that matter.

For Grand Canyon area we stay in Williams at the Grand Canyon Railway RV park. It is managed by and next door to the railway that runs to the canyon. We've rode the train but prefer to drive for the day to the canyon. That allows more time at the rim. Should not have trouble getting last minute reservations except over holidays such as July 4th or Labor Day.

Williams is a fun route 66 town thats still reminiscent of the 50's. Lots to do around the area, lakes, Bearazona, deer petting zoo, zipline etc.

Linda,

For Arches you'll find most people suggesting Moab as it is a nice touristy area and very close to the park. But if you find spaces harder to find on short notice, there are a couple of CGs in Green River that would be easier to get into. They will be just under 1 hour away from Arches and many of the other campers will have OHVs (but usually be polite with them).

Someone mentioned the Kaibab CampRVillage for the North Rim as it is the only FHU CG in the area. When I stayed there last fall the electricity kept dropping into the 102-105V range (tripping my surge protector). There's no way I could have run my air conditioning under those conditions, but with the higher altitude I didn't need it on that trip.

Bryce will be the other great Utah park to see in the summer, they're at 8,000 feet in the high areas. So it is also cooler than Zion and some of the other places. I haven't stayed at Ruby's CG yet, but I like their approach to well-rounded service offerings throughout their properties.

You'd have a much better chance if you could do with out full hookups for at least some of the trip.There are a number of Forest service Campgrounds in Arizona.Some have no hookups,some electric.Also Arizona State parks have water and electric.When you're traveling during prime camping season,campgrounds will be pretty well booked,especially on the weekends.However,if you're flexible with you hookups,then I think it is do able.Check out Suzi and Fred Dows Forest Service Camping website. They have all FS campgrounds listed with all the amenities.http://www.forestcamping.com/

This is a duplicate post. I gave a reply in your other post.

We always have GOOGLE MAP SEARCH with us and have RV campgrounds in the search window... Shows up on the map as we go...

As far as Grand Canyon goes the last few time we went a few years back was to make FLAGSTAFF our BASE CAMP. Then drive to all of the real neat places to see all around there. There is a hugh list of things to see around the FLAGSTAFF AZ area.

One downside to FLAGSTAFF however is not to get a RV Spot close to the RAILROAD that run through the town. This is a MAJOR EAST WEST RAILROAD and has trains going both dfirections about every five minutes apart all night long haha...

SEDONA RED ROCK CANYONS a must see place for us... SEDONA also has a couple of great campground but everything around SEDONA is $$$... It is worth the cost however to wake up every morning and see the morning sun hit the red rocks around there.

WILLIAMS AZ is neat too as you can ride the GRAND CANYON railway from there.

Roy Ken